Juniper
December 2010 - In the last few days of this year, I decided to make use of some Juniper berries that I picked whilst on holiday in Scotland back in the summer.
Whitebeam
October 2010 - Urban foraging in the historic market town of Wymondham, Norfolk, I found a number of street-planted Whitebeam trees, heavy with loads of really plump fruits.
Faking It - Experiments With Ersatz Coffee - Acorns
The third in a series of articles exploring substitutes for coffee - this time, using Acorns.
Shaggy Inkcaps
If you're lucky enough to find a patch of these mushrooms, you're in for a treat.
Shaggy Inkcaps are delicious, but are so delicate and ephemeral, you'll need to pick and cook them straight away.
Faking It - Experiments With Ersatz Coffee - Cleavers
Here's another experiment with one of the wild plants supposedly good for making substitute coffee - Cleavers, or Goosegrass - a wiry, sprawling, twining plant with tiny hooks that cling to everything.
Don't Eat This! - The Yellow Stainer
A load of mushrooms sprang up right in my garden - at first, I thought I had a good crop of Wood Mushrooms.
My excitement turned to disappointment, however, when the fungi proved to be specimens of The Yellow Stainer.
Raspberries
Our holiday in the Highlands of Scotland in August 2010 was very productive time for foraging - one of the most plentiful wild food resources was raspberries.
Cockles
August 2010 - While enjoying a sunny day on the beach at a sandy bay in Gairloch, on holiday in the Highlands of Scotland, we stumbled upon some cockles completely by accident.
Giant Puffball
04 September 2010 - In a grassy pasture at West Dean, Sussex, we found a giant puffball.
Horse Mushrooms
04 September 2010 - We went to a Tomato Festival at West Dean.
Arriving early, we were one of the first few cars in the parking field and we found some fantastic horse mushrooms.
Wild Blackcurrants
August 2010 - During a very productive foraging walk in Flowerdale Forest, Wester Ross, in a damp and shady wooded area, we came across a number of blackcurrant bushes in full fruit.
Seaweed
August 2010 - Enteromorpha intestinalis - it may look pretty unpromising - and the common name ('floating gutweed') even worse, but this common seaweed - found mainly in rock pools toward the high tide mark - is edible and tasty.
Mussels
August 2010 - on my holiday in the Highlands of Scotland, I found huge clusters of mussels on the rocks well below the tideline, including some really big ones.
Highland Wild Food
August 2010 - My partiality for wild foods is especially stimulated when I travel and enjoy the opportunity to find new things to eat. This year, we spent a week in the Highlands of Scotland
Mahonia
Mahonia is a commonly planted shrub in gardens and parks - it can also sometimes be found naturalised in woodland - the berries are supposedly edible, but what are they like?
Walnuts
Walnut trees are not uncommon on chalk downland in the South of England - I found some at St Catherines Hill near Winchester.
It's not going to be easy to beat the squirrels when the nuts are fullt mature, but in early summer when they're stlll soft and green, they can be gathered for pickling.
Winkles
Turn over any rock at the seaside and you're quite likely to find these little critters - they're Common Periwinkles - otherwise known simply as winkles. They are very commonly eaten - so let's see what they're like.
Limpets
June 2010 - we took a day trip to Lulworth cove - the sea is beautifully clean and clear here, making it a good place to forage for shellfish. Let's try eating limpets...
Judas Ear Fungus
June 2010 - Up on St Catherine's Hill, Winchester, there are a great many Elder trees - including some quite old, decaying specimens - this is a great place to go looking for Judas Ear Fungus.
Asparagus
May/June 2010 - I picked some spears of wild asparagus from a salt marsh on the Hamble - after what turned out to be a very long wait.
Faking It - Experiments With Ersatz Coffee
'... can be used to make a substitue for coffee' - if (like me) you're a reader of books about foraging, wild food and bushcraft, you'll have seen this phrase applied to an assortment of different things.
So it's possible to make fake coffee - OK, but how good is it? - let's find out.
Dandelion Oil
Dandelions are related to sunflowers. Sunflower seeds are grown for their edible oil content.
Dandelions are edible... but do the seeds (much smaller than sunflower seeds) contain usable amounts of oil, and can I extract it?
Beech Leaves
May 2010 - I went out for a walk - chiefly to enjoy the bluebells, but I came home with a bag full of beech leaves, to try making beech leaf gin.
Lime Leaves
May 2010 - Spring has finally arrived and the trees are starting to leaf out - the young leaves of Lime trees are supposedly edible - let's give them a try.
